Along Ship Harbor Trail, on a slope overlooking a view of the water, an angled panel displays a wayside exhibit entitled "Tide Pool Tenants." Waves splash against the large rocks covering the slope. On the other side of the trail, a weathered sign points in the direction of a parking area.
The exhibit's title appears over an illustration of a tide pool and the wildlife that can be found there.
Text reads: "Twice a day receding tides leave a host of marine organisms and plants exposed on the rocky surface or submerged in pools of seawater. In these deceivingly bountiful and busy mini-worlds, barnacles, mussels, and seaweeds cling to rocks and feast on microscopic plankton brought in with each rising tide. Dog whelks bore holes into barnacles and mussels and emit an acid that dissolves their protective shells. Sea urchins use their tiny teeth and periwinkles employ their sandpaperish tongues to scrape cells of food from rockweeds, wracks, and other seaweeds."
The illustration shows the variety of life that can be found in a tidepool.
-Wavy green branches of flattened rockweed stretch toward sugar kelp's rippled brown blades. Nearby, short red growths extend from a small ball of Irish moss. Clumps of knotted wrack and bladderwrack grow near each other.
Various creatures linger among the seaweed:
-A smooth periwinkle snail clings to seaweed. It is small with a light brown shell. Nearby, a common periwinkle is larger, with a whorled gray shell. Several dogwhelk snails also appear beneath the water, along with a few disk-shaped tortoise shell limpets.
-A green sea urchin resembles a prickly ball.
-A shaggy maned nudibranch crawls on sugarkelp.
-Seven pairs of legs and two antennae extend from a scud's curved body.
-A rock crab lurks at the bottom of the tide pool, its two large pincers angled from its oval body.
-Tiny holes dot a crumb of bread sponge, spread over rocks like a thick mat.
Text offers Safety Tips:
-Explore tide pools only at low tide and leave before the tide rises. There is a 12-foot difference.
-Keep in mind that the average summer ocean temperature is 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
-Step carefully on the black, slippery algae and watch for wet, loose, sharp rocks.
More text urges visitors to protect the park:
-Replace tide pool organisms where you find them. Do not remove or collect them.
